More Ex-WWE Stars Returning, Velveteen Dream Arrested, AEW Video Game Fallout – News Bulletin – August 30, 2022

More Ex-WWE Stars Returning, Velveteen Dream Arrested, AEW Video Game Fallout – News Bulletin – August 30, 2022 WWE

More former WWE stars are being discussed for potential returns, Velveteen Dream has been arrested more than once this month, fallout regarding the AEW video game, and more.

It’s Tuesday morning, and because yesterday was a bank holiday, what better way to start the day than getting caught up on all the latest wrestling news – I’m Liam Winnard for WrestleTalk.com, and this is our news bulletin for August 30, 2022.

More Former WWE Stars Returning

Since Vince McMahon’s departure and Triple H took over creative, we’ve already seen numerous former WWE stars being brought back into the company, but it sounds like there might be even more of that coming soon.

Firstly, there was a somewhat under-the-radar return announced yesterday in the form of Santana Garrett, who is now a coach at the Performance Center.

Garrett signed with NXT in 2019 but was released by WWE in June 2021 after being on the verge of a main roster call-up, and was even a participant in the 2021 Royal Rumble match.

Even still, there are more names being talked about for returns, and according to Fightful Select, that list of names includes Braun Strowman.

Braun Strowman win the Universal Championship

Braun Strowman won the Universal Championship from Goldberg at WrestleMania 36

Strowman was also released by WWE in June 2021 after reportedly playing “hardball” when it came time to negotiate a new contract. Strowman had been with WWE since 2013 including time in developmental, and was pushed as a top guy on the main roster for years including a run with the Universal Championship.

It’s important to make it clear that Fightful didn’t say Strowman IS coming back, just that WWE has at least discussed it.

Fightful also backed up Andrew Zarian’s report from a few days ago that WWE is interested in bringing back Bronson Reed.

Velveteen Dream Arrested

Another former WWE star that was once a favorite of Triple H is Velveteen Dream, but it seems he’s in a very different boat than the ones we just mentioned.

People on Twitter randomly decided to start speculating over the past couple of days that, despite the circumstances that surrounded his WWE departure, Dream may have been one of the names set to make a comeback, but the news that came out about him is far from that.

Patrick Clark, the man behind the Velveteen Dream character, was arrested on August 20 for First Degree Battery, and Trespassing on Property After a Warning.

He bonded out on August 22 for $1,200 and pleaded not guilty.

Velveteen Dream with the NXT North American Championship

Velveteen Dream currently boasts the longest ever single reign with the NXT North American Championship

However, Clark was then arrested again on August 26, this time for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

As mentioned, Clark’s WWE departure came in May 2021 with controversy as it took place after accusations had been made against him during the #SpeakingOut movement, which he denied. WWE had stated it had conducted an investigation and didn’t find anything, but the situtation never went away and ultimately he was let go.

We will of course keep you posted with any updates on the current situation.

FTR Pulled From AEW Video Game

There’s been a lot of talk about backstage heat in AEW for the past week, and headlines were made once again when Fightful Select reported that FTR were NOT set to be included in the AEW Fight Forever video game.

FTR – the team of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler – reportedly made it to the ‘model phase’ of the game, but at this point aren’t set to be included on the roster when the game launches.

The report stated that FTR were ‘not too happy’ when they found out.

FTR’s exclusion from the video game brought about a lot of rumors of its own following the recent stuff that’s come out about backstage heat within AEW.

FTR taunting as they set up for a double-team

FTR and Wardlow will face Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns in a trios match at All Out this coming Sunday

One camp backstage in AEW is made up of the likes of Kenny Omega (who is heading up the video game), the Young Bucks and Adam Page, while an ‘opposing’ camp is made up of the likes of CM Punk and FTR.

With Omega being the video game lead, the obvious spicy speculation was that FTR were left out because of that and everything that’s happened recently.

However, in an interview with GiveMeSport, FTR did comment on the situation. Wheeler said:

“For us, the only real issue is we were kind of blindsided by it. We found out, not how you would expect. When you find out something like that, something major like being taken out of a video game, your mind automatically assumes the worst. For us, it was like, ‘is this something we need to worry about? Should we read between the lines here. Were we not told for a reason? Now that we are aware and we are out, what is that reason? Is it something we should worry about?’ We got an answer, it made a lot of sense, a very logical answer. Okay, cool, as long as we don’t have to worry about it, non-issue. That’s what it was. We’ve known about it since May, June, I don’t know how long, but for months.”

Sports Gamers Online reported that “there were some issues with move set captures and animations” which led to changes to the roster, including FTR’s removal. They also said that isn’t “the whole answer, but a logical reason why”.

On a related note, Fight Forever won the award for Best Sports/Racing Game at Gamescom last week.

Other Stuff

In other little bits of news…

Last night’s WWE Raw took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the main event surprisingly saw Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez win the final of the Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament against IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. However, it was Kai who was pinned but SKY was supposed to be legal at the time, so there’s likely to be some further storyline and fallout.

During that match, they showed some other women watching on the TV backstage, including Dana Brooke who did not have the 24/7 Championship belt with her, so that may have been scrapped.

Matt Riddle has his first name back and was involved in a very heated interview segment on Raw with Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins ahead of their match at Clash at the Castle this Saturday, in which Rollins brought up Riddle’s real-life divorce and not being able to see his kids anymore.

Kurt Angle’s role in the show was to set up a match between the Alpha Academy and the Street Profits where, if the Academy won, Angle would have to join them. The Profits ended up winning, and they celebrated with Angle by drinking some milk.

Also, we got the biggest tease yet of Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs the Usos, as Owens faced Jey Uso in a singles match. Jimmy Uso instructed Zayn to use a chair to attack Owens, but Zayn hesitated, which allowed Owens to nail Jey with a Stunner and win.

Sami Zayn trying to reason with Kevin Owens

Sami Zayn seemed to be torn between Kevin Owens and the Bloodline

Saraya (formerly Paige in WWE) was announced as the special guest referee for a match between her brothers Roy Knight and Zak Zodiak at the WAW Frightmare IV show on October 15.

Vince Russo claimed (emphasis on the word ‘claimed’ because it’s Vince Russo) that he worked as a consultant for the USA Network from April 2020 to April 2022.

WrestleVotes tweeted: For the first time in a long time, there has been some discussions creatively regarding Roman Reigns dropping the title(s). I’m hearing multiple ideas have intrigued those making the final call come Saturday in Cardiff. Should be an interesting week ahead…

NXT announcer Wade Barrett has signed a two-year contract extension to remain with WWE, and said that while he’s not “chasing” it, he’s open to an in-ring return if it presents itself.

And speaking of NXT, the lineup for tonight’s episode of NXT 2.0 includes Grayson Waller vs Apollo Crews; Katana Chance & Kayden Carter vs Ivy Nile & Tatum Paxley; Josh Briggs, Brooks Jensen & Fallon Henley vs Pretty Deadly & Lash Legend; and Gallus vs the Creed Brothers & Damon Kemp of Diamond Mine. It’s also the final episode before Worlds Collide this Sunday.

Be sure to stay tuned to WrestleTalk.com throughout the day to keep up with all the news from the world of pro-wrestling, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning for another round-up.

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2 years ago by Liam Winnard

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